Take Control of Apple Mail, 5th Edition (Version 5.1)

Master Mail in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS!

Version 5.1, updated January 26, 2021

Use Apple Mail more effectively! Email expert Joe Kissell explains what's new with Mail for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, and how to best set up your Gmail, iCloud, IMAP, and Exchange accounts. He then shows you how to take Mail to the next level with plugins and automation, manage your incoming email, customize Mail, and solve common problems.

Take Control of Apple Mail is your complete guide to Apple's Mail app. In this book, Joe explains core concepts like special IMAP mailboxes and email archiving, reveals Mail's hidden interface elements and gestures, and helps with common tasks like addressing and adding attachments. He also offers tips on customizing Mail, including a nifty chapter on how simple plugins and special automation can dramatically improve the way you use Mail. Joe also covers finding that message in the haystack with Mail's natural-language search, improving the messages you send, how digital signatures and encryption work in Mail, and—perhaps most important—an award-winning strategy for avoiding email overload.

You’ll quickly find the information that’s most important to you, including:

Key changes in Mail for Big Sur and iOS 14/iPadOS 14

Getting through your email faster with gestures

Using advanced search techniques to find filed messages

Using plugins to significantly enhance how you use Mail

The whys and hows of sending attachments

Using markup features to embellish, and even sign, outgoing attachments

Defeating spam with the Junk Mail filter—and what to do if you need more firepower

Understanding special mailboxes like Sent, Drafts, and Junk

Using notifications to stay apprised of incoming messages

Taking charge of email organization with rules and other measures

Backing up and restoring email

Importing email from other apps, older versions of Mail, or another Mac

Deciding whether you should encrypt your email, along with detailed, real-world steps for signing and encrypting messages

Taking Mail to the next level with AppleScript and Automator

Key skills for using Mail in iOS and iPadOS, such as working with incoming and outgoing messages, using attachments, and configuring accounts

Fixing problems: receiving, sending, logging in, bad mailboxes, and more

Although this book primarily covers Mail on Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, iOS 14/iPadOS 14, and iOS 13/iPadOS 13, the majority of it is also applicable to earlier versions.